<p>This work studies three texts by Sylvia Plath: “Lady Lazarus”, “Daddy” and <em>The Bell Jar </em>from a feminist, gender and cultural perspective. I investigate how the texts take a stand regarding the motive and meaning of the representations of suicide in these works through the theoretical framework of African-American activist Huey Newton. The Black Panther party cofounder Newton redefines the concept of suicide. First and foremost he views suicide as a reaction to social conditions, coining the terms Reactionary Suicide and Revolutionary Suicide. Revolutionary Suicide is fueled by hope, when refusing to take part in any game of slave and master in society; instead of the normative view that suicide may be fueled by powerlessness and despair, as in the case of Reactionary Suicide. A feminist and gendered perspective on representations of suicide deconstructs traditional preconceptions of femininity and masculinity in the case of suicide and a normative reading: an embodiment by women and men of madness and rationality; viewing them as objects and subjects respectively. This study proposes that the representations of suicide in the texts from a cultural reading show the refusal of women to partake in a life defined by patriarchy, limiting and oppressing women’s everyday life. Suicide is seen through this unusual approach as an emptying out, a repositioning of the self through these performative suicides. Furthermore, through Revolutionary Suicide agency is claimed, with a hope for a better reality for the oppressed, in the intersection of the dichotomies of reality and utopia, literature and history, oppression and freedom. From a feminist perspective suicide is the catalyst to express social, political and cultural critique.</p>

This work studies three texts by Sylvia Plath: “Lady Lazarus”, “Daddy” and The Bell Jar from a feminist, gender and cultural perspective. I investigate how the texts take a stand regarding the motive and meaning of the representations of suicide in these works through the theoretical framework of African-American activist Huey Newton. The Black Panther party cofounder Newton redefines the concept of suicide. First and foremost he views suicide as a reaction to social conditions, coining the terms Reactionary Suicide and Revolutionary Suicide. Revolutionary Suicide is fueled by hope, when refusing to take part in any game of slave and master in society; instead of the normative view that suicide may be fueled by powerlessness and despair, as in the case of Reactionary Suicide. A feminist and gendered perspective on representations of suicide deconstructs traditional preconceptions of femininity and masculinity in the case of suicide and a normative reading: an embodiment by women and men of madness and rationality; viewing them as objects and subjects respectively. This study proposes that the representations of suicide in the texts from a cultural reading show the refusal of women to partake in a life defined by patriarchy, limiting and oppressing women’s everyday life. Suicide is seen through this unusual approach as an emptying out, a repositioning of the self through these performative suicides. Furthermore, through Revolutionary Suicide agency is claimed, with a hope for a better reality for the oppressed, in the intersection of the dichotomies of reality and utopia, literature and history, oppression and freedom. From a feminist perspective suicide is the catalyst to express social, political and cultural critique.

How did music play a consistent role through various memories? In this memoir, I look at the sweet, the traumatic and troubling. I use specific songs as connections to lost loved ones. I pin the power of music to the loss of three important people in my life: my sister, father, and mother. Who were their musical touchstones? Did I share them? Did music run through them as it has always run through me? The memoir is sandwiched by a brief extended metaphor that props up the conceit that we are entering a live concert performance. It is billed as a "letter to a lost loved one" because it is indeed meant to address that lost one, my sister, my guide. In the opening section I've lost my voice. I eventually reclaim it and vow that I will perhaps meet my sister at some point in the future.

O obscurantismo da letra lacaniana, as crises institucionais e o hermetismo da metapsicologia podem ser superados em favor das contribuições teóricas que o lacanismo poderia fornecer à historiografia da cultura. Este trabalho defende que esta assertiva já estava inscrita às proposições multidisciplinares tanto da escola dos Annales quanto dos textos ditos sociais de Freud. Assim, em uma estratégia progressiva que contemplaria tanto leitores novos às temáticas metapsicológicas quanto, espera-se, outros já mais experientes, os dois primeiros capítulos são introdutórios ao jargão lacaniano, o terceiro e quarto, reflexões sobre o estado da arte, conquanto os dois últimos constituem casos da metapsicologia aplicada à crítica ao discurso do capitalista, uma das principais contribuições da psicanálise de orientação lacaniana aos saberes ditos sociais. / The obscurantism of the lacanian text, the several institutional crises and the difficulty of the metapsychological vocabulary may be overcome in favor of the theoretical contributions that the lacanism could provide to the culture historiography. This thesis argues that this assumption was already present in the multidisciplinary propositions of the Annales school and in the so called social texts by Freud. Consequently, a progressive strategy that would be useful to new readers of the metapsychological subjects, as much as, to the more experienced ones, the first two chapters are an introduction to the lacanian jargon, the third and fourth chapters, are a reflection about the state of the art, whilst the last two parts are about metapsychology applied to the capitalist discourse, one of the main contributions of the lacanian oriented psychoanalysis to the so called social knowledges.

O obscurantismo da letra lacaniana, as crises institucionais e o hermetismo da metapsicologia podem ser superados em favor das contribuições teóricas que o lacanismo poderia fornecer à historiografia da cultura. Este trabalho defende que esta assertiva já estava inscrita às proposições multidisciplinares tanto da escola dos Annales quanto dos textos ditos sociais de Freud. Assim, em uma estratégia progressiva que contemplaria tanto leitores novos às temáticas metapsicológicas quanto, espera-se, outros já mais experientes, os dois primeiros capítulos são introdutórios ao jargão lacaniano, o terceiro e quarto, reflexões sobre o estado da arte, conquanto os dois últimos constituem casos da metapsicologia aplicada à crítica ao discurso do capitalista, uma das principais contribuições da psicanálise de orientação lacaniana aos saberes ditos sociais. / The obscurantism of the lacanian text, the several institutional crises and the difficulty of the metapsychological vocabulary may be overcome in favor of the theoretical contributions that the lacanism could provide to the culture historiography. This thesis argues that this assumption was already present in the multidisciplinary propositions of the Annales school and in the so called social texts by Freud. Consequently, a progressive strategy that would be useful to new readers of the metapsychological subjects, as much as, to the more experienced ones, the first two chapters are an introduction to the lacanian jargon, the third and fourth chapters, are a reflection about the state of the art, whilst the last two parts are about metapsychology applied to the capitalist discourse, one of the main contributions of the lacanian oriented psychoanalysis to the so called social knowledges.

O tema do presente trabalho de pesquisa se refere à crítica de cultura da América Latina e ao conceito de periferia à luz das obras Jorge Luis Borges, um escritor na periferia, de Beatriz Sarlo; e Um mestre na periferia do capitalismo, de Roberto Schwarz. O problema da pesquisa consiste em verificar se o uso do conceito de periferia por Sarlo e Schwarz não se torna uma abordagem generalista para pensar a crítica de cultura latino-americana na exata medida em que sinaliza os escritores Jorge Luis Borges e Machado de Assis como exceção ao lugar-comum periférico. A hipótese de pesquisa que norteia este trabalho é: apesar de Beatriz Sarlo e Roberto Schwarz investigarem escritores diferentes (e de épocas distintas), é o conceito de periferia que dá novo significado às obras de Jorge Luis Borges e de Machado de Assis, forjando, assim, um novo pressuposto para a crítica de cultura no Brasil e na Argentina. Como consequência dessa leitura, estaria concebida uma proposta para a crítica de cultura da América Latina como território periférico por excelência: de um lado, hostil para os princípios do liberalismo; de outro, complexo para a acomodação da estética do modernismo. Nesse sentido, o objetivo da pesquisa foi avaliar como a leitura das obras de Jorge Luis Borges e de Machado de Assis, quando entendidas a partir da dinâmica centro-periferia, tem sido utilizada não somente para reafirmar essa posição subalterna da América Latina no âmbito da crítica de cultura, mas também para apontar Jorge Luis Borges e Machado de Assis como contrapontos dessa condição periférica exatamente porque eles conseguiram reagir a essa conjuntura assim como se pretendeu observar a trajetória intelectual de Sarlo e Schwarz como autores que desempenham um papel fundamental na crítica de cultura da América Latina. Como aporte metodológico, foi adotada a pesquisa bibliográfica interdisciplinar, buscando investigar, assim, não apenas o conceito de periferia, como também o papel dos intelectuais à luz de literatura especializada. Beatriz Sarlo e Roberto Schwarz são autores cuja influência ultrapassa a dinâmica dos estudos literários, haja vista que suas análises ocupam espaços importantes no contexto do debate político e no âmbito das vanguardas estéticas. / The main theme of this work refers to the critique of Latin American culture and to the concept of periphery in the light of works Jorge Luis Borges, a writer on the Edge, by Beatriz Sarlo, and A master on the periphery of capitalism: Machado de Assis, by Roberto Schwarz. The problem of the research consists in verifying if the use of the concept of periphery by Sarlo and Schwarz does not become a generalist approach to think the critique of Latin American culture to the exact extent that it signals writers Jorge Luis Borges and Machado de Assis as an exception to the peripheral common place. The hypothesis of research that guides this work is: although Beatriz Sarlo and Roberto Schwarz investigate different writers (and from different times), it is the concept of periphery that gives new meaning to the works of Jorge Luis Borges and Machado de Assis. Thus, a new assumption for the culture critique in Brazil and Argentina is organized. As a consequence of this reading, a proposal would be conceived for the critique of Latin American culture as peripheral territory par excellence: on the one hand, hostile to the principles of liberalism, on the other, too complex for the accommodation of the aesthetics of modernism. In this sense, the main purpose of this research was to evaluate how the reading of the works of Jorge Luis Borges and Machado de Assis, when understood from the center-periphery dynamics, has been used not only to reaffirm this subaltern position of Latin America in the cultural criticism, but also to point out Jorge Luis Borges and Machado de Assis as counterpoints to this peripheral condition - precisely because they have managed to react to this status quo - just as it was intended to observe the intellectual trajectory of Sarlo and Schwarz as authors who play a fundamental role in critical thinking of Latin American culture. As a methodological contribution, the interdisciplinary bibliographical research was adopted, seeking to investigate, not only the concept of the periphery, but also the role of the intellectuals in the light of specialized literature. Beatriz Sarlo and Roberto Schwarz are authors whose influence goes beyond the dynamics of literary studies, given that their analyzes occupy important spaces in the context of political debate and within the framework of aesthetic vanguards.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-29T13:17:49Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Daniel de Moraes Caro.pdf: 1423209 bytes, checksum: 34f0846393d6292bb194d10fec16ef3d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-06-07 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The present work consists of a systematization of Skinner criticism to contemporary Ocidental culture. Two operations characterize this systematization: one of organization and the next, on the fundamentation of Skinner s nine texts about criticism of this culture. In order to point the way towards the field of studies this work (culture) was approached by Skinner, the first chapter was built in order to characterize the philosophical presuppositions of radical behaviorism. This chapter indicated the philosophical demands of culture should be addressed. Then, in the second chapter, the notion of culture in the work of Skinner was explored. Two concepts have proved important for understanding the concept of culture: social behavior and verbal behavior. Both received a specific approach each one on an item. Moreover, in the same chapter, deepened further the concept of culture unraveling the relationship between culture and subjectivity. The chapter ended with a discussion about a possible notion of "critic" that could be applied at cultural practices. Critic to a cultural practice would be legitimate, the definition of "critic" adopted in the present work, when such practice would produce threat to the survival of the culture. Based on this criterion, we identified cultural practices analyzed in the nine texts that could be considered under criticism from Skinner. These practices were grouped into thematic units that were the basic methodological feature that helped in the task of systematic criticism of Skinner to contemporary Western culture. Four thematic units were formed: internalization of the main determinants of behavior, neglect of the remote future, impoverishment of behavioral repertoire and dissemination of aversive control. It was observed in the present analysis in thematic units, a strong commitment of Skinner's critic with its conceptual and philosophical system / O presente trabalho consiste em uma sistematização da crítica de Skinner à cultura contemporânea ocidental. Duas operações caracterizaram essa sistematização: uma de organização e outra de fundamentação de nove textos de Skinner voltados para a crítica dessa cultura. De modo a situar a maneira pela qual o campo de estudos deste trabalho (cultura) foi abordado por Skinner, realizou-se o primeiro capítulo de modo a caracterizar os pressupostos filosóficos do Behaviorismo Radical. Esse capítulo indicou sobre quais exigências filosóficas a cultura deveria ser abordada. Em seguida, no segundo capítulo, a noção de cultura na obra skinneriana foi explorada. Dois conceitos se revelaram importantes para compreensão da noção de cultura: comportamento social e comportamento verbal. Ambos receberam uma abordagem específica em um item cada um. Além disso, no mesmo capítulo, aprofundou-se ainda mais o conceito de cultura desvendando as relações entre cultura e subjetividade. O capítulo se encerrou com uma discussão sobre uma possível noção de crítica que poderia ser aplicada ás práticas culturais. Crítica a uma prática cultural seria legítima, na definição de crítica adotada no presente trabalho, quando tal prática produzisse ameaça à sobrevivência da cultura. Com base nesse critério, identificaram-se práticas culturais analisadas nos nove textos que poderiam ser consideradas alvo de crítica de Skinner. Essas práticas foram aglutinadas em unidades temáticas que foram o recurso metodológico básico que ajudou na tarefa de sistematização da crítica de Skinner à cultura contemporânea ocidental. Quatro unidades temáticas foram formadas: internalização dos principais determinantes do comportamento, negligência em relação ao futuro remoto, empobrecimento do repertório comportamental e difusão do controle aversivo. Observou-se, nas análises presentes nas unidades temáticas, um forte comprometimento da crítica de Skinner com seu sistema conceitual e filosófico

This study examines Swedish prison priests in the early 20th century, more specifically the years 1900-1909 and 1925-1932. Prison chaplains arose in the early 1800s as a result of reforms to Sweden's penal code in the 1840s. Sweden adopted the so-called Philadelphiasystem which meant that the prisons placed prisoners in complete isolation and only had access to the "morally good" staff, such as the prison chaplains. In theory, the aim was to talk with prisoners and "rehabilitate" them, so they could return to society. The priests' main method of establishing rehabilitation attempts was achieved through constant observation and dialogue with prisoners. Unlike other prison studies, which are often associated with analyzing the typical power dynamics between "superior" and "subordinate", this study will investigate and present, through the prison chaplains' annual reports and books, what they believed and considered to be cause of crime, the right way to rehabilitate prisoner and what problems they could face after their time in prison. The study will focus on comparing their relationships and interpretations of prisoners and how this was linked to similar discussions related to Sweden's social problems and solutions such as alcoholism, prostitution, modern city life, industrial workculture, parenting and neglectful households.

Walter Benjamin warned in 1940 of a certain inconspicuous threat to political thinking, not least of all to materialism, that takes progress as an historical norm. Implicit in this conception is what he describes as an empty continuum of time along which the prevailing tradition chronicles its own mythic development and drains everyday life of genuine historical experience. The myth of progressive history advances insidiously today in consumeristic and technocratic attempts at reconciling cultural imagery with organic nature. In this dissertation, I pursue the contradictions of such images as they crystallize around the natural history of twenty-first century commodity society, where promises of ecological remediation, sustainable urban development, and climate change mitigation have yet to introduce a true crisis of historical experience to the ongoing environmental crisis of capitalism. A more radical way of seeing the cultural representation of nature would, I argue, penetrate its mythic determination by market forces and bear witness to the natural-historical ruins and traces that constitute, in Benjamin's terms, a single "catastrophe" where others perceive historical continuity. I argue that Benjamin's critique of progress is instructive to interpreting those utopian dreams, ablaze in consumer life and technological fantasy, that recent decades of growing environmental concern have channeled into the recovery of an experience of the natural world. His dialectics of nature and alienated history confront the wish-image of organic abundance with the transience of its appropriated expression in the commodity-form. Drawing together this confrontation with a varied literature on collective memory, nature, and the city, I suggest that our poverty of experience is more than simply a technical, economic, or even ecological problem, but rather follows from the commodification of history itself. The goal of this work is to reflect upon the potentiality of communal politics that subsist not in rushing headlong into a progressive future but, as Benjamin urges, in reaching for the emergency brake on the runaway train of progress.